Vania F. Prado
Scientist
Why I Became a Scientist
As a child I always wanted to know how things work. When I went to Dentistry School I got really fascinated by the studies on how cells work, how they communicate, how they can differentiate to make different tissues and by the fact that there were still so many unanswered questions. So, I decided to become a scientist to investigate different aspects of cellular function, to better understand mechanisms of diseases and find new treatments.
Research Summary
Dr. Vania Prado’s main interest is the cholinergic system. Altered release of the cholinergic transmitter acetylcholine seems to underlie some of the cognitive and behavioural deficits observed in patients with age-related dementia. She has generated a collection of genetically modified mice to test the role of cholinergic transporters for maintaining synthesis and storage of acetylcholine in nerve terminals. The aim of this research is to test the possibility of using cholinergic transporters as drug targets to improve acetylcholine release, an important therapeutic approach in dementia (such as Alzheimer’s, Huntington’s and Parkinson’s disease), myasthenia and other disturbances of the cholinergic system.
Research Questions
During aging and more predominantly, in patients with Alzheimer’s disease, cholinergic neurons are unable to maintain normal levels of acetylcholine release. How this affects cognitive processing in Alzheimer’s disease? How acetylcholine regulates hippocampal function?
This work will provide novel information on how acetylcholine regulates brain functions. This information would be important to improve understanding of mechanisms underlining cognitive deficits observed in aging and neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer’s.
Attempts to increase cholinergic tone have relied mainly in preserving ACh for long periods in the synapse by using cholinesterase inhibitors. Could cholinergic transporters be a target to regulate the amount of ACh stored and released by cholinergic nerve terminals?
We will learn whether it is possible to manipulate the machinery used to secrete acetylcholine to increase its activity in the brain. This information may give us new targets to develop therapeutic drugs to boost cholinergic tone and would be valuable in the treatment of diseases such as myasthenia gravis, Alzheimer’s disease, Lewy Body Dementia, etc. These new drugs would have the advantage of increasing ACh release only during nerve activity (similar to the physiological process) and we expect they would cause (or cause much less) collateral effect when compared to the cholinesterase inhibitors currently available.
It has been shown that cholinergic neurons in the brain can also release other neurotransmitters (in addition to acetylcholine). How each one of the neurotransmitters released by cholinergic neurons (in many cases, acetylcholine and glutamate) regulates behavioral functions?
We will be able to tell apart the specific physiological roles of acetylcholine and its co-transmitted neurotransmitter in different areas of the brain. This information may open up new avenues in the search of more effective treatments for behavioral changes associated with diseases such as Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, Huntington’s, etc.
Education
- Dentistry; PhD Biochemistry
Training
- UFMG (Brazil) ; McGill University; Duke University
Awards
- Junior Research Fellow National Research Council (Brazil, 1994-2003)
- Senior Research Fellow National Research Council (Brazil, 2003-2008)
Publications
Contact Info
Robarts Research Institute
The University of Western Ontario
1151 Richmond St. N.
London, ON N6A 5B7
Phone: 519-931-5777 ext. 24889
Fax: 519-931-5789
Email: vprado@robarts.ca
